1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general technical field of conditioning harvested products such as fodder intended, in particular, for animal feed. Conditioning is often beneficial to harvested products intended for drying or ensilage because treating said products to some extent encourages the water contained in them, and especially in their stalks, to evaporate. Accelerated drying may thus occur.
The present invention more particularly relates to a device for achieving such conditioning. This device is often advantageously associated with a mower to constitute a mower-conditioner.
2. Discussion of the Background
The production of a conditioning device for harvested products, comprising:
a casing which has an inlet section and an outlet section for the products, PA1 a transport rotor provided with fingers and mounted in the casing on an approximately horizontal axis, PA1 a deflector arranged on the casing facing the transport rotor so as to define a passage channel for the products on the same side as the inlet section, said passage channel having a certain passage section, PA1 and a comb fitted outside the passage channel, said comb having teeth capable of entering the passage channel more or less deeply through at least one slit achieved in the deflector,
is already known.
Thus, document FR-A-2 107 042 discloses a machine for conditioning harvested agricultural products, which machine is equipped with a casing and a transport rotor. The latter acts on cut products or fodder as it enters the casing. The machine described also comprises a deflector facing the transport rotor to define a passage channel for the products or fodder. The rotor is equipped with transport tools of the finger type, which fingers interact with a comb mounted on the casing and the teeth of which can enter the passage channel. The teeth thus penetrate more or less deeply between the surfaces swept by the fingers. Such a machine does not seem able to adapt to the increasing diversity of agricultural products or fodder and harvesting conditions. This diversity entails a greater number of possibilities for adjustment, which are not achieved with the machine described in the state of the art.